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Protesters shout at a lone man with shaved head and Swasikas on his shirt in the protest zone of the Richard Spencer event, in front of the Philips Curtis M. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts on University of Florida campus on Thursday, Oct. 19, 2017. (Photo by Rachel Jones)

Juelius Long, Gainesville resident, talks with a man who entered the protest zone with two Swastikas on his shirt, as he is escorted by protesters off University of Florida campus on Thursday, Oct. 19, 2017. (Photo by Rachel Jones)

Tatonya Speed from Columbus, Ohio, and Cyntay Matthews from Burlington, New Jersey, protest in front of the Curtis M. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts on University of Florida campus where the Richard Spencer event was held on Thursday, Oct. 19, 2017. “It’s 2017, these types of issues should not still exist,” Speed said, “Racism should be a part of the DSM-IV, making it a mental health issue. If someone thinks they’re better than other people, that’s an illness.” Matthews’s said, “Five generations honorably served, protected foreign and domestic from terrorism.” (Photo by Rachel Jones)

A woman holds sign that reads “UF faculty against hate” at the Richard Spencer event at the Philips Curtis M. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts on University of Florida campus on Thursday, Oct. 19, 2017. (Photo by Rachel Jones)

Protester shouts in front Richard Spencer event at the Philips Curtis M. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts on University of Florida campus on Thursday, Oct. 19, 2017. (Photo by Rachel Jones)

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Veterans fly their colors on State Hwy. 1806 as they return to Oceti Sakowin Camp south of the barricade across Cannonball River on Sunday, December 4, 2016.

Veterans head north on State Hwy. 1806 in formation, as more amass in thousands to Oceti Sakowin Camp in support of water protectors, on Sunday, December 4, 2016.

Water protectors had encircled the Oceti Sakowin Camp in prayer when word spread from Sacred Fire that the Army Corps of Engineers denied a permit for the continued construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline on Sunday, December 4, 2016.

Insight from the veterans, natives, mothers, historians, sustainable energy advocates and others who came to support the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and protect the water. Each person was filmed on Sunday, Dec. 4, 2016, a significant day in Standing Rock history.

One of my photos from the Dakota Access Pipeline Protests was published in print and online in a local-to-Jacksonville magazine, Folio Weekly, on Wednesday, January 4, 2017, in an article correlating the fight against the Sabal Trail pipeline, a pipeline posed to go through 13 Florida counties and threaten local water supply and wildlife, with the camps and protests ongoing in North Dakota. Click here for a direct link to the article.

Douglas Anderson School of the Arts put on the winter classic: “A Christmas Carol,” directed by Bonnie Harrison, on the MainStage for the holiday season. First for some backstage photos–And now into the show–

Amber Cross, 30, sat atop a run-down military truck facing the barricade erected by Dakota Access Pipeline Security that cut off Backwater Bridge, which was too enshrouded by falling snow to see on Monday, Dec. 5, 2016. Drums beat and 24 mile per hour winds howled as veterans and water protectors marched in victory of the Army Corps of Engineers’ decision to decline the easement, deferring and rerouting construction of the Dakota Access pipeline until further investigation for an Environmental Impact Statement.

Drums beat and 24 miles per hour winds howled as veterans and water protectors marched in victory of the Army Corps of Engineers’ decision to decline the easement, deferring and rerouting construction of the Dakota Access pipeline until further investigation for an Environmental Impact Statement, Monday, December 5, 2016 (Photos by Rachel Jones)

Cross, from Oglala, S.D., and a member of the Pine Ridge Sioux Tribe has been at Oceti Sakowin Camp for more than a month. She is overwhelmed by the Army Corps of Engineers’ decision, but feels the government needs to do more to protect the people and water. She isn’t leaving until the police kick her out, she said. Cross chanted, “Mni Waconi” and other water protectors all around chanted back, “Water is life!”

“The vets might have been the tipping point,” said Gray Harrison, 62, an army veteran from Fort Collins, Colo., regarding the Army Corps of Engineers decision to decline the easement. With veterans arriving by the thousands, Harrison said, “They knew the water protectors were not going to back down.” Jim Berg, 62, and his son, Mniluzahe Berg, 36, both Navy veterans, heard the call and came out to support. Mniluzahe served three tours in Iraq. ”Its an amazing appalling thing to see congress and the federal government inactive for so long on issues of national importance,” Berg said.

Water protector prays at Backwater Bridge amid celebration of Army Corps of Engineers’ decision to decline the easement for the continued construction of the Dakota Access pipeline, on Monday, December 5, 2016. (Photo by Rachel Jones)

The Army Corps of Engineers’ decision is welcome, but very late, Berg said, referring to the injuries caused to water protectors by Morton County Sheriff’s department from rubber bullets, concussion grenades and water canons in the interim of the decision. Berg can’t believe the reaction of law enforcement officers and the government to the right to protest. As a Native American who has worked in “Indian country” all his life, to propose a pipeline for profit, Berg said, “That makes me furious. Most Indian country doesn’t even have pipelines for water,” Berg said.

Veterans and water protectors celebrate the Army Corps of Engineers’ decision to decline the easement to continue DAPL construction. This follows the Victory March from Oceti Sakowin camp to Backwater Bridge on Monday, December 5, 2016, the date water protectors were ordered to evacuate. (Photo by Rachel Jones)